Basketball
by Simply Kim
Summary: Basketball... it made him lose so much... but only now did he realize... that it gave him so much more.


TITLE:  Basketball 

BY: **Simply Kim (formerly The Prophecy)**

GENRE: **Yaoi (one-Shot)**

CAST: Read and find out…  ^_^ 

SYNOPSIS:  **The basketball fell, but I did not pay any heed… All I can do is to welcome the sweetest sensation I ever had in my life…**

A/N: (To…) Means basketball being dribbled. It is the sound of the ball hitting the floor. 

          (Thud!) Means a ball landing on the floor after the player makes a successful shot

         (Thump!) Means a basketball hitting the ring and bouncing away.

BASKETBALL 

To… to… to…

            A basketball was bouncing off somewhere in the gym, I was sure of it. 

            To… to… to…

            It had been so long since I started playing basketball. I could still remember the cheers of my parents, the excited shrieks of my younger sister, and the words of encouragement of my elder brother… 

They were the reasons why I struggled so hard to excel in this sport. I look forward to their enthusiastic support for me before, during, and after my games. They were the ones who made me what I am… an ace…

I was happy then… very much a dreamer… very much contented.

Then… all those dreams I learned to depend my life on disintegrated into nothingness. The giant, overwhelmingly radiant bubble had burst without so much as a by your leave… They were taken away by a single blow that rocked my whole existence.

To… to… to…

It was the last game of the winter tournament. I, together with my teammates from Tomigaoka Junior High, assembled at the center of the court, slapping each other's hands as one by one we were called… Each name representing our school… our school… our Alma Mater for the time being… 

Rukawa Kaede… I heard my name being called through the loud speakers… and I ran to where my team was.

Once on the court I looked up at the usual place that my family would sit, the lower box near the team bench. 

They were not there.

To… to… to…

Of course, I was mad! I was mad enough to actually slam the locker room door shut, the sound reverberating to almost all corners of the bunker. I was mad enough to consider boycotting the game.

To… to… to…

How could they have done it to me during the most exciting and important game in my junior high? I was almost besieged with insanity. Call it melodramatic if you would, but that was what I exactly felt. 

To… to… to…

I played as if I was possessed, and made my team win the tournament… but my heart remained bitter… 

Bitter…       

Funny thing was… I would not have had such thoughts if I knew the reason why they did not attend my play…

To… to… to…

They died that afternoon… car crash in the early fall of snow… tires skidded… car crushed to a fine pulp… four bodies mangled beyond imagination…

My family…

They died…

To… to……… thud!

Someone's definitely playing basketball inside the gym. I wonder who it is… probably Sakuragi again, practicing the "Camp Shot" that he did not even bother renaming even as we stepped into the liberated world of college.

Sakuragi… I would never forget that do'ahou. He started a fight with me back then… for reasons I only learned when we were halfway though the graduation rites in Shohoku during our last year in high school. I almost swung my fist just to knock him senseless as he whispered to me that he was not mad at me… that he did not actually hate me all those years that we had been playing on and off countless basketball courts…

The idiot should have been better off without telling me, because if he did not, he wouldn't have been sporting a black eye as he rode with me home. Don't get me wrong… it is not as if we share something special… I was just the proverbial chauffeur, since I was the only one with my own car when we were seniors… well, maybe we did share something special, and we still do… he became my friend – and believe it or not, he still is. That was it, nothing more, nothing less. 

Well, he earned that injury. He made my life hell during our first year just because of a girl who was supposed to be crushing on me.

That idiot could be so shallow sometimes.

To… to… to…

The sound of that dribbling reminded me of other things… good ones. 

Although I did not have a family anymore, and had been living on my own for quite a few years now, I gained and retained many things that now had much importance in my life.

There's the Shohoku gang that never ceased to amaze me with their idiocy and naiveté. Kogure-sempai and Mitsui-sempai… I think they finally had a thing going on between them. Ugh! I would probably have gone crazy if Mitsui-sempai would ask me for the umpteenth time, where Kogure-sempai is…

At least now, they're joined at the hip. 

Akagi-sempai now has his girlfriend – and a beautiful one at that… I guess, with his looks, I wouldn't have imagined it… well; I guess I still cannot get over the fact that what I had seen in the cafeteria was reality… Hn… I thought I was dreaming. 

Miyagi-sempai still has the hots for Ayako-neechan (well, we were close even before, since we both came from the same junior high school)… and I guess that also goes vice-versa, judging from those secret smiles she has for him… Those substitutes were also a part of my newly found friends. I never thought they would be so helpful… especially since were not really that close before…

Thump!   To… to… 

Ah, the ball did not swish into the ring… bad luck…

To… to… to…

Now I am in the university… my friends… well… some of them… stayed with me and settled in Ashura-Ryou University… one of the infamous educational institutions in the country. 

Kogure-sempai, Mitsui-sempai, Akagi-sempai, Fujima-sempai, Hanagata-sempai, Jin-sempai, Miyagi-sempai, Ayako-neechan, Kakuta-san, the do'ahou, and even the wild monkey… they were all with me.  We, I am proud to say, are the ones composing the basketball team of the university. Ah, Haruko-chan and Hikoichi-kun are also with us… heh, even two of the members of the ahou's gundan: Youhei and Ookusu.

Oh, and one more thing… Smiley is with us.

To… to… to…

Yes, Sendoh Akira is in the same university that I am in. The student body sure is lucky that we haven't come to blows yet.

Well, actually, we started off with me giving him the glare of death (pretty much resembling the do'ahou's "The Eye"), and him giving me the hentai smile (well, the smile isn't exactly hentai, but the do'ahou's description just stuck I guess…).

It gradually faded into me giving him an acknowledging nod, and him throwing me a can of Pocari Sweat after a long, grueling, Fujima and Gori-induced practice.

Then came the small talks, which grew into long ones on the phone as we argued and discussed about many things…

As days passed, I learned to like him increasingly… I knew that it was crazy… he was like… my RIVAL wasn't he? So…. Why did I feel so… weird?

I started to see him in a different light…

To… to… to… thud!

Sighing, I began packing my things. 

I had been here in the locker room for far too long. 

The basketballer just made another successful shot. Hn… Bad for him though… he missed one shot a while ago… 

Here I am, carrying my huge Speedo bag, hair disheveled tremendously as I had not yet combed my hair. Well, I forgot to bring one… my fault…

Pushing the door with a mighty swing, I got myself out of the stuffy locker room. Ahh… free at last… I was feeling a wee bit claustrophobic in there…

Taking a deep breath, I shifted my gaze towards the familiar thumps of the basketball hitting the shiny wooden floorings.

To… to… to…

Through basketball, I gained… I lost… I cried… I smiled… 

Yes…

Through basketball, I finally learned how to smile again… after many years of solitude… I learned to smile again…

To… to… to… Thud!

"Nice shot." I called out, as the ball sailed cleanly through the hoop before dropping down the ground. I knew I was smiling when I uttered those words… just as I knew the one I called out to would smile back at me…

The man turned, his eyes shining under the bright lights of the university gym. 

Just as I expected, he smiled back…

And he walked straight towards me, basketball in hand, his eyes holding mine prisoner with unparalleled intensity…

A soft touch… and I melted into his loving arms…

A slight displacement of air… a warm breath on my face… 

And he kissed me.

"I love you." He whispered huskily. "I love you…"

Basketball brought us together…

Bound us together… and probably for forever…

To……

The basketball fell, but I did not pay any heed…

All I can do is to welcome the sweetest sensation I ever had in my life…

To… to……

The ball bounced again, hitting the floor a second time, then a third… the sound fading to nothingness…

All was silent…

And in my mind, the magic words…

'I love you too Akira'


End file.
